Have you ever heard of someone who was attempting to buy a meat or dairy product but accidentally bought a vegan item instead because of confusing labeling? According to the meat and dairy industries, that is a very common occurrence. That’s why, adjacent to the rise in popularity of vegan products in recent years, there have been several law cases around the world about the naming of vegan products.
The most famous case happened last year when the European parliament rejected a proposal to ban terms such as “burgers” and “sausages” on products that do not contain animal meat, but passed a similar ban on dairy product names. Therefore, vegan companies in the EU cannot name their products ‘Vegan Cheese’ or ‘Almond Milk’.
This struggle has been going on all over the world and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Only last month a vegan company, Miyoko’s Creamery, won a lawsuit against the California Department of Food and Agriculture about using the terms “dairy” and “butter” on their packaging. What do you think? Is vegan product labeling really that confusing? Or perhaps are the meat and dairy industries scared of the current winds of change?
